This accident appears to have occurred due to a combination of the terrain characteristics of a downhill road and the vehicle's unexpected behavior. The K7 car, driven by a driver in his 70s, was traveling down a steep slope, struck pedestrians and hit several parked motorcycles in succession, before colliding with a subway vent structure and coming to a halt. Immediately after the accident, a fire broke out in the vehicle's engine, and the fire brigade was urgently dispatched to extinguish the fire, but the scene had already turned into chaos. At the accident site, debris was scattered and the vehicle was damaged to the point where it was difficult to recognize, proving how massive the impact was at the time.

Unfortunately, the number of casualties amounts to 5, including 2 dead and 3 injured. A woman in her 40s who died at the scene and a woman in her 70s who were taken to the hospital but eventually pronounced dead from cardiac arrest were struck by lightning while going about their daily lives. In particular, among the dead and injured were those who were in a mother-daughter relationship, causing even greater public outrage as this accident went beyond a simple accident and completely destroyed the happiness of a family. Other pedestrians who survived, including teenagers and people in their 30s, also suffered serious injuries to their heads and legs and are receiving intensive treatment at the hospital, raising concerns about not only physical injuries but also deep psychological trauma.

The driver in his 70s who caused the accident suffered an abrasion to his ankle at the scene, and as a result of a subsequent hospital examination, intra-abdominal bleeding was confirmed and he is receiving treatment. During the police investigation, the driver reportedly claimed that he accelerated suddenly, saying, “The brakes did not work.” However, no traces of alcohol or drug use were found, and the police are investigating from various angles, leaving open all possibilities that could be the cause of the accident, such as poor driving or carelessness. In order to determine the exact cause of the accident, analysis of the vehicle's black box video, securing surrounding closed circuit (CCTV), and detailed identification to determine whether there are technical defects in the vehicle will be carried out in parallel.

This incident has reignited the age-old debate about how to strike a balance between freedom of movement and pedestrian safety in a reality where the proportion of elderly drivers in our society is rapidly increasing. The problem of elderly drivers' reduced cognitive ability and physical reaction speed has already been pointed out several times, but the voluntary license return system and the introduction of conditional licenses are still not free from controversy over their effectiveness. The fact that the city's infrastructure is designed to be vehicle-centered rather than pedestrian-centered is also pointed out as a factor threatening pedestrian safety. Given that pedestrians have virtually no space to avoid an accident where a vehicle hits the sidewalk, it is urgent to establish a strong institutional safety net at a preventive level.